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May 03, 2005
Universal Health Care Update
From the Office of Senator Sheila Kuehl:
The California Health Insurance Reliability Act, CHIRA, SB 840, Kuehl passed the Senate Health Committee yesterday by a vote of 7 - 4 with all the Democrats on the committee voting for the bill and all the Republicans voting against it. The bill will now go to the Senate Appropriations Committee and then to the Senate Floor before June 3, 2005.
Minor amendments were made to the bill following the vote in the Senate Insurance Committee on April 6. You can access the new, amended version from the Senate website at www.sen.ca.gov or at www.healthcareforall.org
Senate Appropriations Committee:
SB 840 will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee late May. SB 840 has strong support among the Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, as shown in the list below.
Democrats on the Appropriations Committee
Sen. Migden, Chair -- Coauthor
Sen. Alquist -- Coauthor
Sen. Bowen
Sen. Escutia -- Coauthor
Sen. Florez -- Coauthor
Sen. Murray -- Coauthor
Sen. Ortiz -- Principal Coauthor
Sen. Speier -- Chair of Insurance Ctte, which SB 840 passed
Senate Floor:
According to the amended bill, the latest list of Senate coauthors of SB 840 is as follows: Alquist, Cedillo, Chesbro, Escutia, Figueroa, Florez, Lowenthal, Migden, Murray, Ortiz, Perata, Romero, and Soto.
All other Democratic Senators need to hear from their constituents prior to June 3. Identify your own State Senator and Assemblymember online by visiting:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
Bill Update:
SB 840 is not going to have fiscal language added. It will remain a "policy" bill. The substance of the act will be divided into two bills (the policy bill and the fiscal bill). SB 840 will remain the policy bill with all of the benefits, governance structure, transitional procedures, delivery of care details, consumer advocacy and protections and structures for efficiencies and savings and sustainability spelled out
Funding for CHIRA will be developed in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee with Senator Mike Machado, Chair, taking the lead in analyzing different funding plans. The first hearing will be this June 2005, when experts will begin to look at the possibilities. (As many of us know, the Lewin Group has done two cost/benefit studies of proposals that address California's health system.) A fiscal bill based on feedback from these hearings will be introduced in January 2006.
Sincerely,
Sheila J. Kuehl
California State Senator, 23rd District
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Sincerely yours,
Jim Lindburg
Legislative Advocate
http://www.fclca.org
E-mail: JimL@fclca.org
Phone: (916) 443-3734
Fax: (916) 448-6109
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